Relational Victimization, Coping Styles and Depressive Symptoms: A Test of Bidirectional Associations in Adolescence

Abstract

Although evidence from previous studies suggests that adolescents with negative coping styles who experienced victimization are more likely to exhibit depressive symptoms, these associations have not yet been disentangled to separate between-person differences from within-person effects. To investigate the within-person bidirectional relationships among relational victimization, coping styles and depressive symptoms, this study conducted a four-wave random intercept cross-lagged panel model analysis. The final sample consisted of 1506 adolescents, 72.6% of whom were male, with a mean age of 10.90 years (SD = 1.12) at the first time point. The findings revealed a prospective within-person association between relational victimization and depressive symptoms, and a reciprocal within-person relationship between depressive symptoms and avoidance coping. The approach coping style negatively predicted depressive symptoms over time, whereas depressive symptoms did not affect the approach coping style. These findings show how depressive symptoms, relational victimization, and coping styles are related at the individual level, extending previous research through the demonstration of stable within-person associations over time.